Microstructure Of Maraging Steel Research Articles

Effect of carbon on elastic properties and microstructure of maraging steel: First-principles and phase-field study

The effect of the carbon concentration on the elastic properties and martensitic microstructure of Marval X12 steel is studied using first principles calculations and phase-field simulations. The density functional theory (DFT) results predict almost no changes of the elastic moduli with an increase of C content. However, there is a sizeable change of the elastic constants due to cubic to tetragonal martensitic transformation. The elastic constants are used as input data for the 3D elastoplastic phase-field model to study the martensitic microstructure evolution in Marval X12 steel. The results, showing that lath martensite is formed in this steel, are in agreement with experiments. With increasing carbon concentration, we observe formation of mixed morphology predominantly composed of martensite laths and some martensite plates. Our results also suggest that different combinations of martensite variants are formed with increasing carbon content.